Peace That Surpasses All Understanding

Because our family supports and is intimately involved with some rather cool Christian people who work to share the Gospel and live lives brimming with Christ's love all over the world, I am sometimes privvy to some incredible information about the ways God is working in the world that is not broadcast anywhere else. Certainly the news media seems incrementally less concerned with happening in the Kingdom of God than who has made the latest political blunder or what the stock market is doing at the moment. Toward that end, I received the following email forward. The email was initially sent from the former administrator of a local Christian School, T.R. (abbreviations used for privacy reasons) to dear friends of ours who run the Bridges of Hope in South Africa. Who then, in effort to honor the desire of the Amish to share their story with others, sent it to us.

You see, T.R. has very close, long time friends who are members of the very same Amish community whose little girls were maimed and murdered in their little Amish schoolhouse by a troubled and tortured man who then took his own life. She has been in regular contact with her friends, Racheal and Emanuel S., who wanted her to let people know how everyone in their Amish community is doing in light of these tragic events.

The information relayed in this email has gripped my soul and caused me to listen to God as though I have never heard Him before. Initially, I sobbed uncontrollably when I received and read this. And then I found myself in humbled prayer for several days, unable to put into words how profoundly my heart is being sandblasted by the faith of these children and their parents in the wake of a tragedy that would likely cause my human frailty to come to the surface, not - I am ashamed deeply to say - my faith.

I read about the reaction of the parents whose OWN SMALL CHILDREN were murdered in their classroom. And I realize my faith is nothing compared to theirs. Our Lord, our Jesus, our truth is the same. But their commitment to God above all else shines light into the dark places in my own life and reveals the weakness, the humanity of my own walk with God. It reveals the stark truth: that I truly have so far to go in this journey if my immediate sense was relief that this murdering guy is dead, but first reaction of the families whose little girls were gunned down is to GO TO THE MURDERER'S FAMILY, and offer their forgiveness, make them meals, and ask what they can do for that family.

Where I was despondent, they were faithful. Where I was angry and despondent and marred by profound sadness, they were loving, compassionate, and discovered profound joy.

The stories of the Amish families in this email humbles and changes me in ways I am not convinced can be expressed with words. This blog entry is my attempt at penning that potential impossibility.

Here is T.R.'s email:



Dear Friends,

I talked with Rachel. She said incredible things are happening and Jesus is being lifted up and the community is coming together like you just can't imagine. ALL are so thankful he killed the girls quickly before he did what he was planning. She knows the teacher quite well, and said she did exactly the right things to get the police there so quickly.

Michael W. Smith came for their memorial service last night - sang a song he composed with each of the girls named in the song, also "It is Well With My Soul," and one other. Blue Shield has donated 1/2 million $ to the families. Three of the girls are critically hurt, and another one died today. Tomorrow 3 will be buried, (two of them sisters) and Friday the rest.

The 2 families of two of the slain girls went to visit the family of the shooter, told them they forgave the family and even the man and offered to help his family any way they could.

She said one of the worst things is the press as they do not like publicity. But she said they understand, plus the press is being unusually sensitive to the Amish. The Amish will do OK, she said, for they have each other - it is the other family - she is worried about.

Rachel said, "Oh T.R. - we are in the last times! Evil is so much more out in the open. Those little girls are safe with Jesus. We have so little time to let everyone know about Jesus. This event is bringing people together like nothing else could and HE is being lifted up like never before in our community and actually in our world because of this horrible thing! Tell everyone who asks you that we are doing OK. It is tragic and we are grieving, but we know the end of the story and that brings incredible hope."

To encourage you further, I want to pass along the phone call I received a few minutes ago from Emanuel S. - Rachel's husband - in Lancaster PA. He asked me to pass this information on.

He was out delivering furniture this morning and said Rachel has left town for a couple of days with her sister and he just had to tell someone because he was rejoicing, about what he heard while delivering furniture this AM.

He said you won't read this in the press so he wanted us to have first hand knowledge to be encouraged with "how absolutely amazing God is." He met with the family who had two girls shot - one is in the hospital the other is now with Jesus. The funerals are today for those who died. The 13 year old is home from the hospital this morning and will have to go back tomorrow, but has been released temporarily in order to attend her sister's funeral.

She told this story to her Daddy. She said she remembers everything just as it happened.

When the shooter came into the school, he was very, very calm. No loud shouting, etc. He organized the children and teacher letting some go and keeping the 12 girls. He then tied them up. The little ones didn't understand what was going on so the older ones helped the little ones follow the man's directions. She said all was absolutely calm.

When they were finally all tied and he had barricaded the door, the 13 year old asked the man if it was OK for them to pray. He said "It is OK." She then said to him - "Don't you think you should pray?" He replied - "No I don't know God but you can pray." So THE GIRLS FELL TO THEIR KNEES and began to pray. All the while no threats were made, and all was very calm - just them praying out loud, their backs to him, on their knees.

All of a sudden, the gunman looked outside and saw the building surrounded and said "Oh well, I guess I have to shoot you now."

The 13 year old asked why he had to do that, and he said, "Now I have no choice."

She said, "I asked him to shoot me first - because I thought that might give the little ones more time and maybe help could get in. He shot me 4 times, then shot the others as we were down on their knees praying as he shot them."

When she told this story all the fathers of the slain and injured children were together and one of the Dads told Emanuel "We all relaxed and felt so relieved when we heard what she said - that our children were not terrorized." One friend, not Amish, who was with them as they were gathered, said "I am thinking - how can I teach my 5 children to fall on their knees and pray when the hard things come?"

The families are doing well, Emanuel says. Life is no different - the schools in the area were open the following day and the kids walked to school, etc., as if nothing had happened. It is all in God's hands they believe. Each school had a time of prayer and discussion, then got to the studies.

The groups of people in the area are just shaking their heads and saying what kind of God is this that can help these people? Emanuel said - "Isn't that amazing, T.R.?"

The Governor of Pennsylvania has closed ALL roads within ten miles, there is a no-fly zone to 10,000 feet, and he is allowing NO press in. When the press does occasionally run into an Amish person, they refuse to talk - saying only - "God is in control." The Governor has said that this is a private time and anyone who bothers the Amish will be prosecuted.

Emanuel said there is grieving, but such hope and such trust. The Amish people are surrounding the families, and the family of the shooter as well.

Emanuel is thrilled and awestruck at how God is using this tragedy to speak of His hope, power and sustaining comfort. Said - "only God could have used this to proclaim Himself like he has and I wanted to let you know so you can tell your friends what really happened as the press is only guessing with much of what they write."

Love you all and hope you are encouraged by this,
T.R.


Does that have you crying, too?

My heart is a mixture of shameful knots and incredibly renewed peace. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, I am newly aware of the nakedness of my own faith. I so clearly see the stark difference between my faith that is so often easily tossed by, colored by, or even dependent upon the events I face in my life, and the faith of these TINY CHILDREN who were praying for the man that was shooting them as he was shooting them. And their parents and community who have stood in solidarity to embrace the family of the man who murdered their babies, who are more concerned for the welfare of others than their own grieving , and who can express pure, unadulterated joy that their sweet children are safe at home with Jesus. The Joy Of The Lord is their strength.

And their joy has overridden this tragedy. God wins.

As I've digested and prayed through the email in the past week, I've come to one of those places in my life when I get a glimpse at the real truth that I am still pitifully journeying toward. For me, the veil is lifted and I have been able to gaze upon truth. I am one who loves that God has given us words and music, that we might weave them into lyrical choruses that reflect our thoughts. But since receiving this email, I admit to moments when even I ~ typically verbose to a fault ~ have simply sat in resounding silence. Pondering God. Pondering the faith of children and the beauty of simply loving others no matter what and honoring the truth of God above all else. Pondering the roadblocks in my own life that prevent me from living and loving as my Lord teaches me to.

The wisdom and peace I have only scratched the surface of in my relationship with Christ clearly directs the entire lives of others. These Amish children and their parents are teaching me volumes about Biblical wisdom and the pease that surpasses all understanding. I am learning more about the Lord I love by being in the presence of those who know Jesus and live Him in dilutiones without compromise or dillution. Who live the truth. Who love in the face of the mass murder of their babies. And in the face of the unyeilding faith of dying lifaithfulrls and their unflinching, faitful families, I realize how far I have to go.

May God continue to bless and deeply reward the Pennsylvania Amish for their faithfulness and example to those of us who stand in bewildered awe and newly transforming hearts as we witness the faith of the littlest among them.


Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.